You will never go to university.

Jan19

This is an open letter to the children who will be taking over from my generation when we are done. It is more a critique of where I see our country, and perhaps the world, heading in the not-too-distant future, than any kind of real apology, but I feel that the contents need to be said before too much more time passes. I decided to write this when I realised that I was quite possibly the last person in my immediate family who would be able to attend university. The thought of rising tuition costs and other actions which have inhibited the entry to higher education for all but the affluent or extremely intelligent, was almost paralysing when I wondered what would become of my child’s employment prospects should university not be an option.

I hope the world I foresaw during the writing of this piece does not come to be. I see it as a dystopian “modge-podge” of scientific advancement beaten down by religious extremism with an unhealthy dose of ecological disaster and a sprinkling of moralistic dishonesty. We are well on the road to this scary place, but I sincerely hope that more people take a step back from their everyday actions and choose to make real and affirmative action.

To the future children of Australia,

I am writing today to let you in on a secret.

Once upon a time, in a land not very unlike your own today, many people were able to go to university. I’m serious. Most people had the opportunity to enter university, or some other higher education institution. It was an attainable goal that most had the possibility of reaching without striving too far at all. Of course, some courses cost more than others, and some courses were more difficult to be accepted into, but if you had the brain power and the desire, it was possible.

It wasn’t always glamorous. A lot of the time, you had to work as many hours as you could possibly get from your employer around your hours of study, which left precious little time for homework and assignments, let alone relaxation or general socialisation.

Sometimes, you had to go days without eating meat, or fresh vegetables. Sometimes all you could afford to eat was week old bread or two minute noodles that had an expiry date you didn’t really want to think about. You lived below the poverty line, as did all of your uni friends. You would look at your tired friends with full time jobs and envy their bank balance, their new clothes not bought from the op shop, and their ability to pay for petrol AND food in the same week. All the while, you kept your eye on the light at the end of the tunnel, and just hoped it wasn’t an oncoming train.

But you did what you could to afford all the books and stationery. You scraped and saved for your tuition fees. Sometimes, if you jumped through enough flaming hoops, you were able to get government assistance to help you through. Once upon a time, my dear children, you were even able to defer the costs of your tuition and pay the government back when you started earning above a certain amount. We truly believed, as did some of those in politics, that everyone should have the option of studying at higher level, regardless of their postcode.

I know that it must seem unfair to you now. Given how much it all costs, and how hard it is to even scrape together enough to do a simple short course at a college for a few weeks, it seems unfathomable to go to university for a few years. Even if you did manage to get into university, you may not be able to get a job in your chosen field.

That’s very scary. That’s not to mention the fact that everyone your age is trying for the same cheaper courses, all in the hopes of getting their foot in the door to a job interview at somewhere other than the local fast food outlet or menial labour position. The desire to escape the shackles of a workplace that displays complete disregard for the laws surrounding employment conditions, simply because their staff are too scared of losing their jobs to complain about any of the unsafe, or illegal practices, is one I understand all too well. I was there, once upon a time, but my case was a rare one for my time. For you, it is an every day occurrence.

The secret wasn’t all I wanted to say though. I also want to apologise.

I’m sorry. I’m sorry that higher education is out of your reach. I’m sorry I couldn’t earn enough to put you through university. I’m sorry you have to apply to groups such as UNICEF for the chance to win your higher education. I’m sorry that the government my generation voted in for only three years, managed to destroy university opportunities so very badly for you all.

I’m sorry that you are now forced to work long hours at a job you hate for minimum wage, simply because you couldn’t get a degree that would have allowed you access to a better paying career with promotion opportunities. I’m sorry that you and your partner will have to both work two jobs to make sure you can afford to pay rent AND feed your kids, should you choose to have any. I’m sorry you can’t afford to put a deposit down on your own home because you don’t earn enough to pay a mortgage. I’m so very very sorry.

I’m sorry that even if you did manage to get accepted into university, that you have to pick your career path very carefully, because you won’t be able to afford a second lot of self-education because it’s not covered by your tax cap.

We thought we knew it all. We were the generation that had everything going for it, and nothing to lose. That was until we lost everything.

It started fairly innocently enough. There was a general sense of ennui. Our idea of taking a stand and having our voices heard amounted to thing more than adding our name and address to an online petition, or perhaps liking a Facebook page. Back in our day, Facebook was only just starting to become the multinational conglomerate it is now. You probably don’t believe me, but we all thought it was a great way of keeping up to date with our friends without really having to commit to a face-to-face conversation.

Nothing more than that. Just a “harmless” social networking site. Oh, how wrong were we to be proven. But that, my dear, is a story for another day.

Sure, we still protested, thinking it would make a difference. Somehow, though, the fire wasn’t there that it had been for previous generations. Maybe it was the fact that we would have all preferred to be at home in front of our computers, safe in our anonymity. Maybe it was the fact that the laws were changed so that any unauthorised groups of more than to people were suddenly illegal. Maybe it was the fact that if we boycotted anything there was the likelihood of someone being sued. Who knows? All we remember is one day turning around and realising just how screwed up things had become. By that point, of course, nothing short of revolution was going to be able to change things, and we as a nation were unlikely to form like that. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, in our self-absorbed mediated lives, we had become a society like something out of a book.

I am not the only one who should be apologising to you, for having made the world the nightmare that it is for you. I’m disappointed by my fellows and contemporaries. Not because of their inaction so much as their collective inability to join the few of us who have dared critique the world we have created. En masse, we could do something, but it would need to be all of us, and it would need to be now. Of course, having said that, it may already be too late. You have freedoms from the constraints and pressures of higher education, while we had the freedom of it. They’re two side of the coin. It’s a fine line of difference, but when you’ve seen where the line is and what it stands for, it can mean all the difference in the world.

Oh, my dear blinded an uneducated children, I am so very very sorry for all that we have done, but I am even more sorry for all we did not do.

Yours in sorrow,

Nephthys.

For those who are not aware, the Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is the story I refer to in the latter part of this piece. If you have not read it, I would highly recommend it as a very good book to read. Regardless of your views on religion, it is a good treatment of the “what-ifs” of religious extremism managing to take over the political arena in troubled and turmoiled times, such as those we are currently experiencing. This book, combined with ideas from Snowcrash by Neil Stephenson is how I envision the world becoming within my own lifetime should we not stop and reflect on the consequences of our actions. If you have not read either of these books, please do yourself a favour and do so. They will change your thinking on how the world is and could be.

References:

ABC News, (2013). Two-thirds of university students living below the poverty line: report. Accessed via: http ://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-15/majority-of-students-in-poverty2c-research-shows/4821230

Atwood, M., (2012). Haunted by The Handmaids’ Tale. The Guardian. Accessed via: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jan/20/handmaids-tale-margaret-atwood

Denholm, M., (2013). Companies to get protections from activists’ boycotts. National Affairs – The Australian. Accessed via: http ://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/companies-to-get-protection-from-activists-boycotts/story-fn59niix-1226724817535

Evans, C., (2012). Keeping the doors open to all. Ministers’ Website for Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education. Accessed via: http://archive.innovation.gov.au/ministersarchive2013/chrisevans/articles/pages/keepingthedoorsopentoall.aspx.htm

Evans, C., (2012). Tony Abbot to slash support for university students. Ministers’ Website for Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education. Accessed via: http://archive.innovation.gov.au/ministersarchive2013/chrisevans/mediareleases/pages/tonyabbotttoslashsupportforuniversitystudents.aspx.htm

O’Connor, D., (2013). Making (self) education unaffordable. Gadens. Accessed via: http://www.gadens.com.au/publications/Pages/Making-self-education-unaffordable.aspx

Sricharatchanya, H., (n.d.). Education – for some still an unattainable dream. UNICEF EAPRO – Media Centre. Ccessed via: http://www.unicef.org/eapro/media_19255.html

Stephenson, N., (1992). Snowcrash. Random House Publishing.

Western Australian Consolidated Acts, (2013). Criminal Code Act Compilation Act 1913 – Notes. Chapter IX – Unlawful assemblies: Breaches of the peace. Accessed via: (http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/wa/consol_act/ccaca1913252/notes.html

When disaster strikes.

Jan12

If you have ever been through a natural disaster, you will no doubt have had the terrible time of checking off all the belonging you have lost in your mind. This tends to come some days after the actual event, and really is part of the natural grieving process. After loss of lives, the loss of personal belongings is probably the hardest thing to come to terms with, especially after a disaster like a bush fire taking your home.

Those of us living in the city tend not to concern ourselves with action plans necessary to survive natural disaster events, and when my house was burnt to the ground in 1999, I had never conceived of the need for an action plan. Australia is currently experiencing record-breaking heat waves, which always bring with the heat the chance of deadly and destructive bush fires.

What can you do to prepare? Each person and family will have different needs, depending on their particular situation, but here is a list I have come up with. Take note of the points that apply to you and your loved ones, as they could save your life and important belongings.

If you have pets, keep them inside and have carry cases ready. You will need to pack them and a little food and water for them. Letting them out of the house will only stress them out and you run the risk of them running away or being caught by the fire.
Have a battery operated or dynamo powered radio tuned in to the emergency broadcast station (in Australia, that is the ABC). You will receive news of evacuation plans, routes and assembly points. You will also get information on where the fire is, its heading and current safe zones.
Pack a change of clothes, water bottles, identification and medication for everyone in one backpack. Toiletries can be bought elsewhere when you have time to stop.
Make sure that any important documents are backed up, preferably digitally and on a small form hard drive. If you can, make this a flash drive/thumb drive/usb stick or a small external hard drive. While they may not be much help in replacing documents, they are at least some kind of proof that you are who you say you are.
Keep listening to the emergency broadcasts. If you get the notice to evacuate, move all young and invalid people into your car first, followed by pets and the gear then drive in a sensible and orderly fashion to your designated assembly zone. Make sure you have been accounted for, or the fire brigade will assume you are still in your place of residence.
If you have livestock, open all gates. They will instinctively run away from the fire to safety. You can always look for them once it is safe to return to the area.
Do not, under any circumstances, return to your home until you have been told it is safe to do so. Embers can reignite and start fires again. If you’re in doubt, contact the fire brigade or emergency teams in your team. When you do return, do a check of the property and surrounds as best as you can before unloading the vehicle.

This is not an exhaustive list. Everybody’s action list will be different and there are tips given by the authorities which have not been listed here. If you have anything you think should be added to the list, please add a comment below!

Do What You Can With What You’ve Got.

Jan3

In light of this week of the rather strange tradition of “New Year’s Resolution” (something I’ve never really understood), I thought I would write a little about why goal setting shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Ambition and aspiration are great. Everyone needs goals. The problems comes when we under- or over-estimate our capabilities and other demands on our resources. To what do I elude? Knowing when what you want to achieve is too much, or when you’ve picked a task that is too easy.

In choosing an easy-to-achieve goal, we might think that we are setting ourselves a standard which precludes us from disappointment. In fact, it is quite the opposite. If you reach the finish line of a marathon, only to admit that it was actually a quarter mile, would you still tell everyone your ran a marathon? No. The same goes for other goals you want to achieve. Let me be clear on this – Not everything you set out to achieve is a goal. Sometimes, it is a step to the real goal. The celebration should be reserved for the real end goal, not completion of each step on the path.

When setting yourself a goal that is too difficult, or too optimistic, you st yourself up for disappointment. IF you know it’s too much of a stretch for you to run the marathon, then set your goal of the half-marathon. If you can’t run, choose a different goal! Why set yourself a goal you simply cannot achieve?

What I am saying is this: Before you can set yourself realistic and achievable goals, you need to first take a look at yourself, your life and the other things which you will have taking time, energy and other resources away from being able to commit to those goals. Otherwise you will either be unhappy with your lack of success, or feel that you could have done better. Throwing in the towel is too easy to do when all hope seems lost, simply because you didn’t take the time to assess your options first.

Happy New Year 2014!

Dec31

And bye bye to 2013. Here is a look at the year that was.

January:
I held a friend’s hand while she got a tattoo she had been wanting for many years. a few weeks later I started on my own tattoo project, completing a wish that I had had for many years also. It brought me one step closer to how I believe I ought to look. I braved the back-to-school madness to shop for my child’s return to education for the year. Only missing out on a few items which had sold out, it was my most successful year yet. I also entered my third year of my undergraduate degree– the beginning of the home run, so to speak. Having injured my right knee in the previous month, I continued to hobble around, catching public transport to and from work and elsewhere, with the aid of crutches, painkillers and anti-inflammatories. I also broke a toe. My family (grandmother and my father) met the family of my partner (mother and father) with amusing results. I also started as the Employee Engagement Officer for my office at Medibank, bringing (hopefully) joy and mirth to an otherwise dry and dull office.

February:
I continued work on my tattoo project: three hours at a time, every two weeks. Definitely a labour of love. My degree also continued. February, it would have seemed, was the months of continuation.

March:
I began my internship with Living Smart, work which still matters a lot to me to this day. I got new glasses, which in itself might not seem much, but as I had not worn glasses for some years, it was big to me. Thank you to Kate, Jenny and the whole family at Living Smart for letting me be part of your fabulous project.

April:
I continued working on the website for Living Smart, bringing the group’s presence online into greater clarity and letting it act as a better representation of the great work this group does. I went to Oz ComicCon and met Alan Tudyk, and had my dinosaurs signed by the man. It was in stark contrast to the rest of the months, which saw me begin the fight against changes to the admissions for the degree I am studying at Curtin University. A strong web, email and social media campaign thwarted efforts to make on campus enrollments obsolete, potentially leading the only dedicated Internet Studies department in Australia to its demise.

May:
I attended some events later in the month which allowed me to indulge in the darker part of my personality, with some very gratifying results (no spoilers here). My child turned 11, making me realise that it is probably too late to really be considering another child, as the age gap would be vast. I also began working on a research project which was to try my already strained patience.

June:
I continued to see the doctor regarding the damage done to my knee back in December of the previous year. Six months later and the repair was going slowly, but as expected.

July:
In writing the proposal for my research project, I realised that the paywalls of of research institutions and publishers is the single most defining obstacle to my metastudy. Much banging of my metahead against a metawall ensues. Attending the ANZCA Early Research pre-conference fires my imagination and passion for research, but returning to my study only drops me deeper into a paywall-facilitated rage. I quit my job to focus on my study, hoping to get a job with more steady hours. This dis not happen straight away. I attended the last Profs and Pints event of the year, put on by Scitech, this time as a member of the panel. We discuss the pros and cons of censorship. On the panel with me were expert in their fields. As an undergrad, I felt more than a little out of my depth however, I believe I managed with moderate success.

August:
The AICP (Association of Internet Communications Professionals) became a thing! It was a month of interview after interview after interview, jut hoping for something that wasn’t taking advantage of me, but was also rewarding. I started to become disillusioned with how my job hunting was going. I also attended Can’t Stop The Serenity, the worldwide fundraising event for Equality Now. The Perth Browncoats managed to raise US$8,500 (the highest donation of any CSTS city this year!) toward the worldwide total of US$110,783.53.

September:
The interviews continued, as did the rejection letters and phone calls. I escaped from it all by flying to Sydney to attend the annual swarm conference, after running their blog for the lead up to the event. This is also volunteer work that I do, but it fills my heart to see such a great event for community managers and those working in social media taking off and getting bigger and better every year. Thank you so much to Venessa and Alison for allowing me to be part of their event. I applied for, interviewed for and was offered a position working with two graduates of the very same degree I am! The wedding that had been planned and prepared for in three months was cancelled, propelling me into one of the darkest times to date.

October:
The exam schedule for my one and only exam this year was published. It was with a shaking hand and a raised heart beat that I booked my spot in the exam that would herald the completion of phase one of my undergraduate degree. I began my position with Real Estate Tribe and my learning streak on life in the fast lane of real estate and online tools. One of my best friends came over and stayed with me during what was going to be a very trying time. Thank you Rachael for making it seem all the easier.

November:
I celebrated my 32nd birthday. Many friends were with me and fun was had by all. I was taken out, as part of my birthday celebrations, to see the Joss Whedon rendition of Much Ado About Nothing, which was nothing short of wonderful. November also saw me celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who with my family. It was great to see so many people getting into a once-forgotten and laughed at television program that is so dear to my heart(s). I also sat for my final exam in sociology. I felt incredibly nervous going in to the exam room, and coming out of it, but while I was sitting in front of my paper I felt very confident. I guess it just shows that if you cover the same material often enough, it will finally stick.

December:
Which brings us to the last month of the year. I attended the Living Smart Christmas party and was thanked for my work. I applauded as my friend graduated (well done Rachael!), albeit from across the other side of the country.

In summary, I did a lot of stuff this year. Some of it time-consuming. Some of it heartbreaking. Some of it mind-numbing. All of it has brought me to the place where I stand now, ready to take on 2014 and whatever it brings. To everyone who has been reading my blog, and to those I have traveled through this year with – Thank you and may your 2014 bring you challenges and triumphs!

How to Attend a Conference.

Dec11

I have been to a few different business-related events now, where I have seen a lot of people not really know what to do, where to go, or who to look out for in case of questions. In light of my recent attendance of a BarCamp, which is a very different sort of an event, I thought I would put together this guide to attending a conference.

This is a general guide, and each particular event may differ in its set-up and expected behaviours.

Always bring your own refreshments

Not only will this save you time in the breaks between sessions or presentations, but it will mean you know you’re fed. Most events are catered for the days, but invariably it difficult for an event coordinator to know exactly how much people will eat. And the chances of people eating more at an event where the food is provided than they would at home are high… So you’re likely to miss out on snacks… Or, at least, the good ones.

Have back up water

If you’re anything like me, you drink more water than the average fish. Venues will quite often place a bottle of water before every setting on a table, if it’s that kind of set up, but where it isn’t, you will be thirsty in the air conditioning that most places insist on placing either too high or too low, which leads me into my next point.

Wear layers of clothing

If you arrive first thing in the morning, as most conferences have an estimated start time of “morning”, you will probably want warmer layers than you will need come lunch time or even in the afternoon. At least, that is certainly the case in Western Australia. This is especially true when the venue at which the event is being held can simply not cart for the amount of people milling around and all the hot air being thrust upon an unsuspecting crowd. Once the finishing drinks are done (read: close to midnight), you will need those early morning layers again on your way home. Layers, my friends, are urge key to survival no matter what Bear Grylls might say.

Pack thy charger

If you an on using any kind of electronic device at all, pack your device’s charger and label it and hold onto it for dear life. By all means, be generous and allow others to borrow it but, no matter how credible you think people might be, if your charger is not labelled with your name, you will lose it at some point throughout the day. Better yet, if you can, have your gear colour coded or otherwise clearly designated in such a way that no one would dream of pinching it.

Don’t mob the speaker

They’re tired. They probably travelled a long way to make it to your event. They’ve slept in a strange bed, eaten strange food and been surrounding by lovely (but draining) fans all day. Let them have a moment to themselves. If you simply must engage with them! make it short and simple and leave them to have their well deserved drink or canapé. This is unless, of course, they make it explicitly clear they don’t mind at all you hanging around, in which case – go for it!

As I said, this is not an exhaustive list, so if you have some other rules you think should be included, please feel free to add it to the comments below!

On Being Thankful.

Nov27

This morning an article on LinkedIn caught my eye. I finished reading it and spent a moment thinking about its underlying meaning.

There are things to be thankful for in any situation, but sometimes we find it easier and, dare I say it, more socially acceptable to be down on everything in our lives.

This is my time to be thankful. Being thankful isn’t just able saying, “Thank you,” and moving on. It’s about seeing the silver lining in the darkest cloud, knowing it’s there, appreciating it, embracing it and carrying it with you as you move through the difficult situation. It’s about allowing the good feeling of being thankful to fill you and not feeling ashamed to smile about it, regardless of how people around you are acting.

These are the things I am thankful for:

I have a good, healthy life
My child is healthy
I have a healthy, happy relationship with a partner who supports me and my decisions
I can support my family financially and emotionally
I have attended university
I have people around me who believe I can succeed
I am able to show my intelligence and not be sidelined for it
I work with great people who are genuine about their interests and passionate about their work

Now, this isn’t about joining in on the American tradition of Thanksgiving Day.

It’s about making sure I, and I hope you as well, take the time to reflect on what is really precious in life. Offering a silent thank you and being truly appreciative is not often something we do these days, but I think it’s a very important part of bringing a sense of balance to an otherwise hectic schedule. All it takes is a moment of your time.

Facebook Ditches Old Settings… Again.

Nov8

So, the other day I got this email from Facebook.

I knew the change was coming. I had known for a while but, like most other Facebook changes that are gossiped about, I thought it wisest to leave it until it was officially confirmed by Facebook. I knew exactly why this setting was being removed, even before Facebook decided to tell anyone. What I didn’t count on was no one else picking up on the possible implications of it all.

I logged into Facebook this morning and saw this:

Well, now it’s on like Donkey Kong.

So, what does the removal of this setting mean for the average Facebook user?

Not much… Unless you like privacy and are lazy in locking down your privacy settings.

Basically, this change is being made to make way for Graph Search. Haven’t heard about Graph Search? Watch this space. I’ll tell you about it real soon. In a nutshell, Facebook’s Graph Search is going to allow for more personalised search terms to be entered into the search bar and yield results which you might think strange.

Rather than searching through your friend list for all your friends who like a certain band, then looking through them to find out who also likes another band, you will just be able to type into the search bar: “friends who like band x and band y” to get your results.

On face value, this seems fairly innocent, right? Right. Except for the fact that this information is being obtained from the 6 petabytes of user information that crosses the Facebook servers every day. If you haven’t already taken a look at your security and privacy settings, to limit who sees what you post, I would suggest doing it now. I would also suggest limiting your past posts. Another thing I would suggest doing, which is going to take you a little time, especially for those of your with large numbers of people in your friend’s list, is to start creating friends lists, if you haven’t done so already. This is going to make sure you can pick and choose who sees what with a little more control.

If you have no care about who can see your personal information, then as you were soldier. If you’re concerned that your personal information might be seen by people you have no association with, then I say to you: Either lock down your profile or get off Facebook altogether.

EDIT:

This morning when I logged in to Facebook, I had this pop-up in front of my newsfeed.

Seems like they’re making sure everyone sees the notification. I’m guessing there’s more to this settings change than most others in the past.. Hmmmmm…

The Cloud is not as safe as you think it is.

Nov5

We have all been taken in by the romance of the Cloud. Not longer do we require terrabytes of storage for our documents, hooked up to our desktop computers. This has been one of the most important steps in freeing us from the shackles of our desktop machines, bringing about the rise of the laptop/tablet/notebook/iDevice/miniwhatever.

But, and it’s a very big but, is all that information you’re transmitting and sharing through the Cloud as safe as you think it is? Short answer: no.

Take, for example, the case of Dan Tynan. Dan was one of hundreds of people using the Cloud to store and share files for work purposes. Through sheer bad luck and a series of seemingly minor errors, his entire cloud-based drive was deleted. In a flash, his entire collection of work documents disappeared. Not only would this have cause hours and dollars in trying to reinstate all the documents, but he could also have been held in breach of contracts he had with companies who included clauses stating he was required to hold onto documents for a period of time, in case of a lawsuit.

Well, surely this couldn’t happen to anyone? It’s just a rare occurrence, I hear you say. Ha!

Between operating system updates deleting your back-ups, the Cloud being blamed for loss of jobs, messy court cases over who actually owns data and if anyone actually has the responsibility of returning data, and Symantec “discovering” that apparently 43% of users lose data in the Cloud, it’s little wonder that more and more people are choosing to turn away from cloud-based computing and return to physical and local storage of data.

Sure, it may not be “cool”. It may mean having to organise an off-site backup for really really important data, just in case. It may even mean investing in a fire-proof, water-proof safe for storing … *shudder* … back up copies, but anything has to be safer than someone you have never met having control over your information.

Self-Censorship is Everywhere.

Aug3

In the decision to publish my last post, there was a greater amount of consultation with others than previously. The question was not whether or not the issue needed to be discussed, because I still maintain that it definitely did. The question was, “Will posting about this cause potential employers to discount my applications due to my writing?”

Censorship by IsaacMao : flickr

I spent a good few weeks thinking about whether or not to write the post, and then a few more questioning whether or not I ought to publish it. As I said on Twitter and my Facebook page, it was the hardest decision I had made in reference to my blog to date. This post is a close second.

Why do we feel the need for self-censorship? Why do we feel that some things we know ought to be said should not be said by ourselves? That it needs to be said, but maybe by someone else? That “something” need to be done by “someone” else. Have we become so afraid of repercussions resulting from the right actions, as much as the wrong ones?

In the current global economic and political environment, I can excuse some of this fear. The need for a job, secure or otherwise, is paramount for most of us. There are bills to pay and roofs to maintain. There’s a need for food on the table, and transport to take us where we need to go. Everything is our lives depends on a steady income, which depends on us appearing to follow the status quo. Don’t rock the boat or you might lose your job, because there’s a million people just lining up to take your position from you. Or so we are told.

But what if that boat needs rocking? What if that “someone” who needs to do “something” never does? What if that someone is ourselves, and if we don’t take that first, scary, terrifying step to lift our heads, open our mouths and actually say something, then no one ever will? Have we become so institutionalised that we refuse to be the first to move?

There have often been complaints against “slacktivism,” suggesting that it is a lack of desire to actually effect change that drives the “likes” and sharing of stories, rather than actual getting off the couch and doing. Perhaps there is a different reason for the rise in the “slacktivist”? Liking something on facebook is a relatively safe activity. Sharing a story through social media is safer than actually joining an activist group and attending a protest. Especially if you have that all too useful “retweets are not endorsements” attached to your profile.

The fragility of our civilised lives has become our prison. We are too scared to act out, speak up or take a stand because this so-called life we have requires so many delicate, easily-removed aspects that we need to hold onto them, despite our desires to show the world who we are, what we actually believe in or how we really feel.

How many times have you been asked how you are going? How many times have you answered with something mediocre? “Yeah, fine. Thanks for asking,” or perhaps “Great. Yourself?” Why not something more truthful like, “Not so good today, but thanks for asking,” or maybe “You know, I’m feeling amazing today!” Because that would jar the sensibilities of the person asking. It’s not something expected. We have instilled within our society certain protocols that must be followed or we don’t know how to react. Think about it. If a stranger came up to you and handed you a flower, what would you do? Would you take it? Maybe, but you would feel that it was so far removed from the everyday that you would probably feel strange doing it.

What if a person on the street asked you to help them restrain someone you had seen assault another person? Would you help, or would that appointment you’re on your way to take priority? Maybe you’d be afraid to get hurt if the person being held tried to escape before the police arrived. Either way, you would be hesitant.

The same goes for speaking up about things we see as wrong. We are more inclined to do as little as possible to bring it into the light, not really committing ourselves to decisive action, just in case it turns against us. We have become a society so scared to act, so ready to self-censor our actions and speech, because we are holding onto the façade of a life most of us realise upon reflection is not the life we want to be living.

I’m not going to stand by and take a mediocre, safe stance on issues. I don’t want to be afraid to speak up anymore. As people were telling me when I was asking for advice regarding my last post, if someone doesn’t want to employed based on the important topics I write about (or some of the not-so-important ones), then they are probably not someone I want to be working for or with. If no one makes a stand, then the “slacktivists” amongst us will have no one to like or share.

nephthysnile

A Life Less Ordinary.

Category Archives: Rant